West York rolls past Northeastern

West York's Zach Smith gets into the end zone for a Bulldog touchdown in the Bulldogs' win over Northeastern Friday night. MORE PHOTOS
(Bil Bowden)

The play's called nine ball, and West York quarterback Brandon Kinneman and wide receiver Zack Smith executed it to perfection on Friday night.

The play, on which Kinneman delivers a pass to Smith, who's racing along the sideline, worked for 38 yards in the first quarter of the District 3 Class AAA game against Northeastern.

The best, though, was yet to come.

With the Bulldogs backed up on their own 4-yard line and locked in a 7-7 tie late in the first quarter, Kinneman and Smith dialed up nine ball again for a dramatic, game-changing play.

Smith sprinted down the left side, caught Kinneman's perfectly thrown pass in stride at his own 30-yard line and outraced the Northeastern defenders to the end zone completing a 96-yard scoring play.

"That was a huge play in the game," Kinneman said after the Bulldogs improved their record to 11-0 and advanced to the quarterfinals with a 49-20 victory.

"It definitely changed the momentum a lot. We talk about in playoff games, seven to nine plays change the game, and that was definitely one of them."

West York hit Northeastern with a bunch of big plays and 49 unanswered points after the Bobcats opened the scoring by driving 73 yards for a touchdown the first time they touched the ball. Joe Beckhardt caught a 43-yard pass during the march, and Daniel Adams capped it with an 11-yard run.

Beckhardt caught a 12-yard pass on the Bobcats' second possession, but he was injured on the play and didn't return to the game.

Northeastern head coach Brendan Brown said Beckhardt sustained a high ankle sprain.

"We couldn't afford to lose Joe Beckhardt," said Brown whose team produced a 7-4 record in just its fifth season of varsity football. "We knew they had more depth than we did."

West York, leading 21-7 at halftime on touchdowns by Kinneman, Smith and Steve Wilson, wore out Northeastern in the second half with a relentless running game.

The Bulldogs set the tone by driving 69 yards for a touchdown on their initial possession of the final half. Thirteen of the 14 plays were on the ground including Brock Snellbaker's 11-yard TD burst.

Snellbaker later closed a 39-yard march with a three-yard run after West York recovered an on-side kick.

He finished with 67 rushing yards on 11 carries. James Johnson led the Bulldogs' running game with 115 yards.

"Brock is a finesse guy, and he gets the job done," Kinneman said. "James, he's a tank. He's not the biggest guy (5-9, 177), but he runs hard. They're (Snellbaker and Johnson) great behind our offensive line with the way the line blocks and moves people.

"Brandon's passes were great," Smith said. "He was on point tonight, and even that one on my third touchdown, that was awesome.
"I don't know what he was doing today, but whatever it was, he should do it again."

West York head coach Ron Miller said Kinneman's and Smith's 96-yard TD hookup was "enormous."

"Coach Jones (assistant coach Jeremy Jones) wanted to take a shot right away. I just wanted to get a little bit of breathing room (before attempting a pass), but we just said the heck with it. Great throw and catch."

Miller was pleased the way his players executed on the statement scoring drive to begin the second half.

"For whatever reason, we've been struggling when we come out following halftime. We told the kids, we're going to pound it, and we did. We had a penalty, too, and we stuck with the ground game."

West York will stay home again next Friday night when it takes on another York-Adams rival, Spring Grove. The Bulldogs earned a close victory, 21-17, when the two teams met in the third game of the season.

The Rockets' head coach, Russ Stoner, was a star at West York in his playing days.

"I'm really happy for him (Stoner),' Miller said. "I have a lot of respect for him and the way he runs things. We'll have at it, and one of us will get another 48 minutes, and the other will hand its equipment in."

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